running ball.........

[Mr. 16 gauge]

Casted up a bunch of round balls for my trade musket (.62 cal) this past weekend....man, are those things BIG!!!! Hopefully, I will get a chance to get out and shoot them in a week or two...haven't shot a single projectile out of the gun yet; hopefully I can get used to the flash and smoke from the pan to get some accuracy out of the thing.............

[Adam Helmer]

Mr. 16 gauge,

Is your .62 caliber arm a smoothbore? I have a smoothbore .50 flinter and have good accuracy out to about 75 yards with patched roundball. I like that old gun because I also shoot shot loads out of her for small game.

Adam

[Mr. 16 gauge]

Hi Adam;
It's a smoothbore...it's and Indian Trade musket from Cabela's. I have fired shot from it last winter, but the smoke and flame from the flintlock has caused me to flinch a bit. I planned on using it primarily as a small game arm, firing shot. I have found that a 28 gauge cardboard wad with an index card wrapped around and glued makes a handy shot container....I can write on the side of the tube what the shot size and load are. Post-it papers wrapped around work well, also, and can be color coded as well. I plan on using the gun for rabbits and maybe a few early season duck hunts, but hope to take a deer with it some day.